"Do not let your hearts be troubled"

I was thinking about what Lady Galadriel said to the weary travellers who made up The Fellowship of the Ring, when they all stopped off on their journey at her place. The Lord of the Rings characters who stood in front of Lady Galadriel, as she welcomed them to Lothlórien, had been through some particularly difficult trials to say the least.

Together, the group of nine fought some really evil opponents within an inch of their lives, and experienced fear like nothing else, having been pursued by a Dark Lord, a bunch of dark riders and some exceptionally ugly warriors all intent on killing them. If this was not enough, this group of weary wonderers had lost their beloved friend on their travels.

Lady Galadriel could see that Frodo and his friends were disheartened, deeply saddened, broken and fearing for the future and so she said to them: "Do not let your hearts be troubled" and she added: "Tonight you shall sleep in peace." And why wouldn't they in the heart of Elvendom, a place of beauty, light and peace.

This reminds me of how Jesus comforted his disciples with the exact same words in John 14:1: "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Going on to say in the same verse -"Trust in God, and trust also in me."

Jesus spoke these comforting words to his disciples when they were dealing with the difficult truths they had to face; that Jesus was going to be betrayed, that Peter was going to deny him and that he was leaving them. This was a difficult time for the disciples, a short time before, Jesus as he predicted, was taken to the cross and died. The disciples followed Jesus, became close to Him; he was their Teacher, their Lord, their friend and they were troubled about their future without Jesus.

Jesus went on to talk at length about how his disciples would see him again and gave them such assurances of a place for them with him in heaven,

It is comforting to know that if we believe in Jesus we have a place in heaven, so we should not let our hearts be troubled, as Jesus also tells us:

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Jo